Process for breaking petroleum emulsions



Patented g. 17, 1926.

\ UNITED MELVIN-DE enoo-rnior s'r. L

COMPANY, OF WEBSTER GRQVES, MISSOURI, A- CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

TAT

as PIATEINITI OFF-ICE,

ours, mssounr, Assrenon 'ro WM: s. BAItNiCKEL &

Pnocnss FQB BREAKING r nrno tnum EMuLsIoNs.

I No Drawing. 4

This invention relates to t emulsions of he treatment of mineral oil and water, such as cut 011, T011 011, bottom settlings and other petroleum emulsions,- for the purpose of 6 separating the oil from-the water.

Petroleum emu lsions of thekind referred to are, of the waterin-oil type and consist of droplets of wate r encasedin emulsifying films and 10 constitutes the continuous emulsion, the emulsifying films which sur-- round the droplets of water being of an oil I nature, and hence tending'to prevent the dispersed in a body of oil that phase of the water droplets'from coalescmg,

\ An emulsion of the character referred tocan be broken in various ways so as to cause or permit the waterto-separate from the 011, one process that is now used extensively consistingin first sulqecting the emulsion to the action of a chemical treating agent or demulsifyi'ng' agent andthereafter allowingthe emulsion to remain in a at a suitable temperature,

separate I gravity. flhe varlous stages the emulsion irrespective o the particular stantially as follows, i.

ing films that surround asses while it is ess employed to break the emulsion,

quiescent state,

after treatment, so as to permit the water of the emulsion to from the oil of the emulsion by through which b k g, means or procare sube I A first stage in which the oily emulsifythe droplets of water tend to prevent the small droplets from combining with A second stage emulsifying in said filins, emulsifying watery or moist surfaces;

droplets touch larger with same, due to the action be drawn down of emulsion; and

I A fourth stage in lets coalesce. in with other large ing droplets which avit will cause the manner are ofthe larger droplets;

in which the water in the films finds its way into fissures and'thus virtually changes thefrom oilysurfaces into A third stage in which the small water droplets and coalesce of surface tension, thereby producing lar which, however, are not of s by gravity through the mass er droplets, cient size to which the larger dropa ve droplets, thereby described producsuch size that them to be'ca'rried downwardly to, the bottom ot'the'mass.

' I have discovered that in. the second stage above descrihedathatl will refer-to as the" 56 incipient, break? stageand.

' with water I droplets Thereafter when the Application filed May 29, 1925. serial no. 33,832.

5" ends to what is generally termed the I reakingpoint of the emulsion, the water droplets whose films have vbeen changed fromtheir original anhydrous state into a moist state are capable of functioning'in a similar manner to a capillary substance, if said moist films are brought into contact whose films havenot been :moistened by the water in the films findin its way into the fissures of the films. Accor ingly, I propose to use emulsionthat has started'to break to effect a petroleum.

the breaking of an additional supply of emulsion whose water droplets are encased in films that arev substantially anhydrous,

' thereby producing a process that is more efficient than the processes now used, in' that no additional expense is involved in the treatment of the fresh added to the emulsion which has started to break.

. In making practical use of my discovery,-

emulsion that is of fresh emulsion or that will cause .the

out dilution, thereby causing the dry or substantially anhydrous emulsifylng films of the untreated emulsion to 'come' into contact with .the water coated filmsof the treated emulsion, whereupon the water'droplets encased in said dr capillary attraction to the water droplets whose films are moist, with the result that the droplets encased in the moist films will increase in size and-the droplets encased in the anhydrous films will diminish in size.

a "In the treatment of oil fieldemulsions with chemicaltreating agents or demulsifyling agents there is alwaysa definite ratio w ich is the maximum at films will be drawn by" which the treating agent will act under conditions of industrial em;

this ratio varies between ployment. Usually 1 partof'ltreating agent to 3,000 partsof: I of treatingagent to 12, 000'par'ts of emulsion, butduring the entire] operatiomoftreating the emulsion this ratio 1 kept substautially constant. Conseq water at their surfaces,

emulsion so a'sIto break previously re -.to the emulsion at I when the -inc1 ientbreak occurs, a quantity of fresh emu ly,'when my discovery is' usedvi'n' connection with a process that contemplatestr'eatsion or; untreated emulsion treated emulslon. The

is added to the ge or the point at which incipient break sta the fresh emulsion is added can ,be easily determined by the change in color-of the from a yellow-orbrown to a stage cens trifugaltest which will show a great de-.

crease in the emulsion content. In this stage the water droplets present in the emulsion have a large number offissures with and accordingly, I have herein referred to said-films as moist films in contradistinction to'the films ofuntreated emulsion" which areanh'ydrous or substantially dry to water; My discovery can be made use of in any process for breaking awater-in-oilemulsion .111 which'a chemical or other means is used to effect a change in the conditionnof the produce the incipient erred to. The amount of fresh or untreated emulsion from 10% to even 100% of the semi-broken emulsion. I have made practical use of my discovery in thev treatment of petroleum emulsions obtainedfrom the Goose Creek field of Texas, which emulsions ,canbe tr'eat-' that can be added to the treatedemulsion varies accord mg to the nature of the emuls1on,but.may be bymeans of a modified 'fatty I dated September-1 1, 1923, at a ratio of 1 to 5,000. In treating such emulsionsthetreat ingf agent is added to the emulsion at the rate of 1 barrelof treating agent to 5,000 barrels of emulsion, and when the color. of the emulsion cha es from a light yellow to a dark green, -t us indicating that the emulsifying films which encase the droplets of Water have becomewet, a quantity-of fresh emulsion, say, for example, of the original quantity to-the treated emulsion, withthe result that the water droplets of the fresh emulsion will coalesce with the water ed emulsion when the substantially dry emulsifying films of the freshemulsion conof emulsion, is added,

droplets of the treattact withthe moist films of the treatedemulslon. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new. and desire-to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a emulsions, cipient break without dilution, and then addin g fresh or untreated emulsion to same. I 2. Av signs, sionzto the action of a-demulsifyingagent and bringing the emulsion to 'an incipient 'break'without dilution, and thereafter,add- 'ing fresh or untreated emulsion to the treated emulsion after incipient break. 1 MELVIN GROOTE,

process 01 breaking water-'in-oil bringing the emulsionto an in rocess for breaking p etroleum emul-' c aracter'ized bysubjecting the emuL- it has reached 'the 

